Christmas party potato sack race led to compensation claim

Phillip Thomson

A Canberra man working for the Australian government who received compensation after injuring himself during a Christmas party potato sack race has lost his bid for more financial assistance.

Christopher Odell, a man now in his 40s who worked for Indigenous Business Australia, suffered multiple fractures to his lower left leg during the festive game at a work party in December 2010, and needed a tibial nail and screws inserted into his limb.

Comcare granted him compensation for his injury but the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has knocked back his attempt to receive financial support for a permanent injury because he had not been impaired enough.

While the tribunal established Mr Odell had a permanent impairment, it found the applicant did not have a 10 per cent impairment, which needed to be proved to receive further compensation.

Mr Odell, now a self-employed landscape gardener, told the tribunal he was continually restricted when it came to kneeling, cycling, walking and jogging and he often took days off work.

But the tribunal said there was no evidence that Mr Odell could not negotiate uneven ground without use of a walking aid or personalassistant.

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"Mr Odell said he met one of the major criteria (for permanent impairment), namely, that his walking is restricted to 500m or less," the tribunal decision said.

"He gave as evidence that he can no longer walk up Mt Ainslie with his children. However, that assertion was not tested by either of the medical specialists, walking up Mt Ainslie is not walking on level ground, and the tribunal cannot be satisfied that he meets that criteria."

The tribunal upheld a previous decision by Comcare not to grant compensation for permanent impairment.

Mr Odell told the tribunal he was continually restricted while kneeling, cycling, walking, and jogging, was anxious about injuring himself again and regularly took days off work.

Mr Odell told the tribunal he was continually restricted while kneeling, cycling, walking, and jogging, was anxious about injuring himself again and regularly took days off work.